Re: Heroes of Altamira Rules Clarifications
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 9:25 pm
Shhh! I was trying to lure them into a false sense of security.
A forum site for discussion of the Heroes of Altamira Living Campaign
http://www.guildofsanmarcos.net/phpbb/
http://www.guildofsanmarcos.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=35
Steven desJardins wrote:I just signed up to play in Episodes 5 and 6 at Origins, and I think I'm going to take the Ussuran Wrestler template. But first I want to make sure I understand the rules for wrestling.
Steven desJardins wrote:The Player's Guide says "A wrestler, if he can get past an opponent's weapon, has a natural advantage against an untrained fighter." What's involved in getting past an opponent's weapon: is it just beating the opponent's defensive TN with a grapple check, or something more? I would have the Disarm knack, and grappling someone after I disarmed them ought to be pretty easy. But I'm wondering if I have to disarm them first, or there's some other not-insignificant penalty to trying to wrestle an armed opponent. Because it seems like it ought to be really hard to grapple someone trying to fend you off with a long pointy sword.
Steven desJardins wrote:Breaking out of a grappling hold involves a contested roll of Brawn + Wrestling vs. Brawn + Wrestling. I understand how you combine traits and knacks, but not how you would combine a trait and a skill, since skills don't have numeric values.
Steven desJardins wrote:Since Bear Hug is a basic knack for students of the Dobrynya school, I can boost it from 2 to 3 in character creation by spending only one HP, correct?
Steven desJardins wrote:Overall, it seems like wrestling is great against a single opponent, not so great against multiple opponents. Is that a fair summary?
salamanca wrote:Bear Hug is an advanced knack in wrestling but takes up a knack slot in the school. ALL knacks that do this offer a small bonus at character generation. That bonus IS buying it up for 1 point per rank.
So you get it at rank 1 and should spend 2 HP and move it to rank 3.
-Dave
Black Jack Rackham wrote:So the answer to whether you have to disarm them first is a matter of how much you want them to be able to hurt you once you've gotten them in your grip. As for a penalty, nope there isn't one, just the realization that, depending on circumstances, they may be able to put significant holes in you with their pointy weapons.
Black Jack Rackham wrote:Steven desJardins wrote:Breaking out of a grappling hold involves a contested roll of Brawn + Wrestling vs. Brawn + Wrestling. I understand how you combine traits and knacks, but not how you would combine a trait and a skill, since skills don't have numeric values.
Its far easier to figure out when you remember all the errors that managed to hide from the Proofreaders.
Just change Wrestling to Grapple and voila.
Steven desJardins wrote:Black Jack Rackham wrote:So the answer to whether you have to disarm them first is a matter of how much you want them to be able to hurt you once you've gotten them in your grip. As for a penalty, nope there isn't one, just the realization that, depending on circumstances, they may be able to put significant holes in you with their pointy weapons.
That doesn't seem quite right. The Player's Guide says "While grappled, your opponent can only attempt to break your hold, Head Butt you, or perform an Action which requires very little motion, such as pulling the trigger on a pistol." So it seems like it wouldn't matter whether a swordsman was disarmed or not once I have him grappled--he wouldn't be able to attack with his sword until he broke free. (And unless he's a lot stronger than me or is himself a wrestler, he's not likely to beat my 6k3 + 5 to break free.)
Steven desJardins wrote:One more question: A successful headbutt inflicts 3k1 on my opponent and 1k1 on myself, adding my brawn to both. So does this mean, with a brawn of three, I roll four dice for self-inflicted damage and keep the lowest? (I'm pretty sure that's right, just want to double-check.)
Black Jack Rackham wrote:Steven desJardins wrote:One more question: A successful headbutt inflicts 3k1 on my opponent and 1k1 on myself, adding my brawn to both. So does this mean, with a brawn of three, I roll four dice for self-inflicted damage and keep the lowest? (I'm pretty sure that's right, just want to double-check.)
Well there's nothing specific in the rulebook but I'd say that you need to follow the same rules for both damage checks. So if you want to keep the minimum damage for yourself, you'll need to inflict minimum damage on your opponent (since it's really the same hit).
Black Jack Rackham wrote:Scott brought up an excellent point in the Backgrounds section I think bears repeating here. The only place on the forums where what you reveal becomes public knowledge is the In Character Forum. All other places (Backgrounds, character sheets posted in The "Heroes" of Altamira, rules questions, etc.) are considered for the poster's and GM's use only.
Black Jack Rackham wrote:Oh and just as a reminder, we do use the 'synergy bonus' so if you've got overlapping skills that can help save you some points.
Miguel Lopez wrote:In the Base Handbook (p25, House Rule) it states that two skills that give the same basic knack do not give you the knack at rank 2. Is the above an older ruling or does that House Rule not apply to HoA?
Black Jack Rackham wrote:Miguel Lopez wrote:In the Base Handbook (p25, House Rule) it states that two skills that give the same basic knack do not give you the knack at rank 2. Is the above an older ruling or does that House Rule not apply to HoA?
That's just a house rule for the folks that created the Base Handbook. We use it because it's a great resource, but all their House Rules don't apply to us. You can find all our House Rules on the CHARACTER CREATION page (under the Designing Your Own Character section).